Method of making bimetallic finger rings



Oct. 18, 1938. w. E. EccLEs METHOD OF MAKING BIMETALLIG FINGER RINGS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 D/E MOLD Oct. 1s, 1938. Wl E ECCLES' 2,133,918

METHOD OF MAKING BIMETALLIC FINGER RINGS Filed March 15, 1958 2 Sheecs-Sl'lee'cl 2 n.. ai)

Patented Oct. 18, 1938 METHOD oF MAKING BIMETALLIC FINGERk Y RING William E. Eccles, Owatonna, Minn., assigner to The Josten Manufacturing Company, Owatonna, Minn., a corporation of Minnesota Application Marohis, 193s, serial No. 196,045

6 Claims.

-This invention relates to the art of making bimetallic finger rings, more particularly that type of ring used extensively with school, fraternity or class emblems imposed thereon.

The general object of this inventionis to produce a ring having an inner or filler piece of base material and an outer portion of goldfwhich shall` possess the wearing qualities and appearance of a solid gold ring; and the special. object of the invention is to produce a bimetallic ring having no solder seam or the like between 'the inner and outer portions, thereby obviating the possibility of a solder seam being visible or becoming discolored or openingup when the ring is worn.

These objects are attained by surrounding the ller piece with gold by means of a castingprocess.

In the accompanyingdrawings, Figure 1k is a longitudinal central section, in perspective, of` one form of ller piecewhich maybe employed in practicing my invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of a die m' old, .with

said ller piece positioned therein.

Flg. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of said filler piece with a layer of wax cast thereon by means of said die mold.

Fig. 4 is a central vertical `sectionarview'of an investment mold with said ller piece posi@ tioned therein, the wax having been removed by melting. Y

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal sectional View of said filler piece after a covering of noblel metal'has been cast thereon in said investmentmold.

Fig. 6 is a central sectional view, in perspective, of the completed ring.

Fig. 7 is a longitudinal centraly section, in perspective, oi a filler piece adapted for making a Enger-ring blank of the camel-back type.

Fig. 8 is a similar ViewY of a filler piece adapted for making a linger ring blank of a variation of the camel-back type.

Fig. 9 is a similar view of -a ller piece adapted for making finger ring blanks in two halves.

Fig. l0 is a longitudinal central section, in perspective, of the ller piece of Fig. 9 after a covering of noble metal has been cast thereon in an investment mold. Fig. 11 is a central sectional View, in perspective, of a completed finger ring made from two blanks as shown in Fig. 10. i

Fig. 12- is a central sectional view, in perspective, of a filler-piece for use in making a circular bimetallic blank.

Fig. 13 is a central sectional View, in perspective, of such a circular bimetallic blank.

(Cl. 22S-4160.6)

For the sake of brevity in description, Ishall use the term base as denoting the' bronze, silver or other relatively inexpensive material of which the ller piece is made, and the term fnoble to designate the gold or `other relatively j costly material of which the exterior ofthe ring is -formed.

As will be evident iror'ntne foregoing br'ieff da scription of the drawings, the'ller piece may partake of variousV forms. describing-the process, I shall first refer tofthe form of filler piece illustrated'in Fig. 1, said piece being designated I. It consists'of two shank p01?- tions 2 extending in the same planeand ajcentral portion havingva concave surface 3 "extending transverselyxof the fillenpiece.Y lrom the middle of the concave surface 3'projects `a lstem 4 which may be of the form shown lor variations thereof. The filler piece may be made in ank embossing die or in any Vother desired manner.Vl The stem 4 is for use in securing the filler piece Within'the For convenience in die mold and theinvestment mold hereinbefore Y mentioned. `:rf-desired, a plurality of mounting stems may be vprovided on the surface 3"to hold the'ller piece rmly in position in saidY molds; r

The die mold A may be of any preferred sectional construction, with a recess al; to.v receive and hold the stem 4; 'a mold cavity a2 of 'any de'- sired forni to contain` the bodyof the -llerpiece with casting space between the cavity walls? and the body of the ller piece; and a pouring open'- 1f"- ing a3. The walls of .the cavity 'd2 may or .may

not have the design `for the finished ring len;

graved in intagliothereon. n

'I'he ller piece having been positioned Within the die mold, molten plastic material,as,1forl eX'- l" ample, Wax, is kpoured into the mold, whereby the ller piece (with the exception of the stem 4) is covered or surrounded with a layer of wax corresponding in thickness-'to the thicknessy of noble material with which the filler pieceri's'sub'- sequently to be covered.

After the wax has set, the iilier piecejis relmoved from 4the die mold, and covered vwith plastic material (hereinafter termed investment material) which, when hard, is suitable for use f B. The stem 4 is embedded in the investment material. y

After the investment material hase-set, 'the wax isremoved, either byheating'the investment mold and its contents sufliciently tojmelt thefwavx,

the latter being poured out of the mold through the opening b1, or (preferably) by heating the mold and its contents to a dull red to cause the wax to burn up and to heat the filler piece. In either case the iiller piece remains positioned in the mold B by means of the stem 4. The space b2 from-which the wax was removed completely surrounds the body of the filler piece. Y

The desired noble metal, as, for example, molten gold of the required carat, is then poured yor forced into the investment mold B through the opening bi1 by means of air or centrifugal force, lling the space b2. If the wax was burned out, the heated ller piece becomes bonded to the gold.

After the noble metal has set, the investment mold is broken up and the composite or bimetallic blank (Fig. 5) removed. Said blank consists of the ller piece I with a covering of noble metal 6 completely surrounding it, save for the projecting stem 4, which may'now be cut off flush with the gold layer coveringthe concave seat 3. If desired, the blank may be positioned in an embossing die, and the detail sharpened up under a press.

The composite blank 5 is now ready to be bent into ring form, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 5, the ends of the blank being soldered or brazed. The -bending of the blank converts the concave surface 3 into a flat seat or crown upon which any desired emblem or ornament may be secured. The removal of the stem 4 left an exposed portion 'l o f base material which is concealed by the base or bezel 8.

Instead of having one side flat, asin Fig, 1, the filler piece may be of the camel-back form 9 shown in Fig. '7 or the form Il) illustrated in Fig. 8, the filler piece, after investment in gold, being bent into ring form. Or the ring may be made of two halves such as the blank shown in different stagesrin Figs. 9 and 10, the filler Vpiece II represented in Fig. 9 being iirst invested withwax and later with gold in the manner hereinbefore explained. For convenience in securing the filler Vpiece I I in the die mold and the investment mold,

it is provided with a very small projection I2, which has been out off in Fig. 10. The two halves are soldered, welded or brazed together at top and bottomH to form the finished ring illustrated in Fig. 11. A.

Fig. 12 shows a ller piece I3 made in approximately circular form, which may be invested in a die mold with wax to form a complete band, and then invested with gold to form a ring blank I4 as in Fig. 18. y

It will be observed that the ends of the composite blank5 are of solid gold. The same is true of the composite blanks in which the filler pieces 9, ID and II are utilized. Sc, also, in the case of the blank I4, the space between the ends of the ller piece I3 is filled with solid gold. Thus in all these forms, that part of the finger ring which receives the most wear is oi solid gold.

It will also be noted that in all these variations, thellerpiece is completely surrounded by a seamless shell of gold, there being no solder seam between the filler piece vand the gold exterior.

One of the prior-art methods of making a bimetallic finger ring (shown, for instance, in the Vaughan Patent No, 1,170,124) involves the use oi' a short length of bimetallic rod. Said rod has a core of base metal and an outer covering oi gold. The ends of the piece of rod are swaged to make them longer, more slender and'tapering, the blank thus formedy being then bent into ring form. The swaging operation necessarily reduces the thickness' of the gold on the end portions of the blank, and as a consequence that part of the ring which receives a great deal of wear, namely, the part at the inner or palm side of the ring, has a very thin covering of gold. My method makes it possible to provide any desired thickness of gold at the point or points that receive the most wear.

The swaged ends of the bimetallic rod, of course, contain a core of base metal; therefore the completed ring is not of solid gold at the inner or palm side. With my method, the inner or palm side of the ring may be of solid gold (see Figs. 6 and 13).

Inasmuchas the filler piece used in my process is completely covered with the noble metal (except the part which is concealed by the emblem, gem or analogous part), the iiller piece may be made of cheaper material than if some portion thereof were exposed, or if there were a possibility that some portion ofthe filler piece might eventually become exposed.

e For the sake of brevity, the term investingmaterial is used in the folle-wing claims to denote any plastic material that may be used to make a mold in which gold or the like may be cast; and the term wax lsignifies any plastic material ,which melts at a substantially lower temperature than said investing material.

'Ihe ring produced by the methodgherein disclosed is claimed in my divisional application Ser. No. 219.708, filed July 18, 1938.,

,I claim as my invention:

1. The process of makinga composite nger ring which includes the steps of making a filler piece of base material having a mounting stem; covering all of the ller ypiece except the mounting stem with a coating of wax corresponding in form and external dimensions to the form and external `dimensions of Va covering of noble metal which is to be cast around the filler piece;v investing .the coated filler piece with investing material to form a mold in which the filler piece is held by means Yof' the mounting stem; melting the Wax and pouring it out of the mold; filling Withinol- Yten noble metal the space in Vthe mold not occupied by the filler piece; and removing the composite blank thus produced frm'themold.

2. The process of making a composite iinger ringwhich consists inmaking a filler piece of base material having a central portion, two oppositelyextending shank portions and a mounting stem; covering said central portion and shank portions with a coating of wax corresponding. in form and external dimensions to the form and external dimensions of a covering of noble metal which is to be cast around the central portion and the shank portions of the ller piece; investing the coated filler piece with investing material to form a mold inwhich the filler piece is held by means of the mounting stem; melting the wax and pouring it out of the mold; filling with molten noble metal the space in the mold ller piece being held in the cavity of the mold by means of said mounting stem, said cavity corresponding in form and dimensions to the form and external dimensions of a covering of noble metal which is to be cast around the central portion and shank portions of the iiller piece; melting the wax and pouring it out of the mold; lling with molten noble metal the space in the mold not occupied by the filler piece; removing the composite blank thus produced from the mold; removing the mounting stern from the blank; and bending the blank into ring form.

4, The process of making a composite nger ring which consists in making a filler piece of base material having a central portion, two oppositely extending shank portions and a mounting stem; mounting the ller piece in the cavity of a die mold by means of the mounting stem, said cavity corresponding in form and dimensions to the form and external dimensions of a covering of noble metal Which is to be applied to the ller piece; surrounding the central portion and the shank portions of the ller piece With Wax by filling said die mold cavity with Wax; removing the ller piece from the die mold and investing it With investing material, said investing material constituting an investment mold in which the ller piece is held by means ring which includes the steps of making a iiller 1 piece of base metal; coating the ller piece with Wax; investing the coated filler piece with investment material; heating the Whole to a temperature and for a period suiiicient to cause the Wax to burn up; filling with molten noble metal the space previously occupied by the Wax, whereby the noble metal becomes bonded to the heated iiller piece; and removing the blank thus produced from the investment material.

6. A blank for a bimetallic finger ring, comprising a filler blank of base metal, said filler blank having a middle portion, two shank portions extending in opposite directions from the middle portion, and a mounting stem projecting from the middle portion, and a noble metal coating cast around the ller blank and covering the same except the stern, which projects through said coating.

- WILLIAM E. ECOLES. 

